Antioxidant, Antimicrobial Activity and GC-MS Analysis of Russelia equsetiformis Essential Oils (vol 35, pg 1027, 2012)

In this research work the chemical composition by GC-MS, antioxidant and antimicrobial studies of Russelia equisetiformis (Fire cracker) flowers, leaves and stems essential oils were carried out. The essential oils were obtained by hydro-distillation and analysed by GC-MS for their chemical composition. The GC-MS analysis showed hexadecanoic acid methyl ester as the major constituent of R. equisetiformis essential oils in amounts of 11.036, 10.951 and 13.212% for the leaves, stems and flowers, respectively, followed by a-pinene 7.256, 9.595, 13.256% for leaves stems and flowers, respectively. The stearic acid was found to be 9.291 and 7.028 in flowers and leaves, respectively. The antioxidant activity of the essential oils was determined by DPPH radical scavenging assay and inhibition in linoleic acid oxidation and it was found to be in the range of 9.96-25.31 and 65.32-89.21 mu g/ml, respectively. The potential of the essential oils against the selected fungal and bacterial strains was evaluated in present studies by disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assays.